Johannesburg: Senior SQL Developer (JHB) posted by DataFin Recruitment

ENVIRONMENT:

A dynamic Joburg-based Business Process Outsourcer seeks a forward-thinking Senior SQL Developer who sees AI not as a threat but as a powerful productivity enhancer. That leveraging tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or others to automate routine code writing, reduces boilerplate in turn means more focus on higher-value, business-critical logic. Forming part of the Operational Development team, you will help directly support the Call Centre – creating and maintaining solutions leaning heavily on SQL Server to query or manipulate data for the in-house developed systems and reports as well as using C# to create simple ASP.NET SPAs using MVC, Razor and Blazor. The ideal candidate will have worked on end-to-end solutions, able to see the bigger picture with 10 years experience using and programming in SQL, C# and .NET.

DUTIES:

• Solve business problems alone and as part of the team by applying good reasoning and logic to use one or more of the following technologies: ASP.NET, C#, Web services, Web APIs and SQL programming. ML.NET would be an advantage and part of the role moving forward.
• Support the deployment of new IT systems and infrastructure.
• Diagnose problems using a logical approach and understanding of the underlying systems.
• Work individually or as part of a team on small to medium sized SQL projects to solve operational business requirements as well as data manipulation when needed.
• Create ad-hoc queries or SQL Server stored procedures, views and jobs based on user requests or to maintain, troubleshoot or improve existing SQL functionality.
• Work on large data sets in a live transactional environment with an awareness of the impact of running demanding queries and the side effects on a busy operational call centre.
• Create and maintain constraints, keys and indexes to improve performance and maintain database integrity and business rules.
• Design and maintain Excel and SSRS reports using stored procedures and views.
• Maintain or improve existing Excel reports using VBA for extended functionality.
• Query and summarise data across multiple servers and databases using linked servers.
• Work with dynamic SQL to solve difficult cross-server and cross-database queries and summaries.
• Apply AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, or GitHub Copilot to assist with coding, testing, documentation, and problem-solvingwhile maintaining full ownership and understanding of the final solution.

REQUIREMENTS:

• A minimum of 10 years using and programming in C#, .NET and SQL.
• At least 5 of the most recent years using and programming in C#, .NET and SQL daily.
• A good understanding of SSIS, SSRS and Excel working with SQL Server over the past 3 years.
• Solid understanding of relational databases and database design.
• Excellent knowledge of the T-SQL language including use of stored procedures, triggers, views, data types, keys indexes, constraints, foreign keys, relational design and the related tools and development environments.
• Experience optimising SQL Server queries and stored procs and the use of query analyzer for tuning code.
• Very good general programming skills and a general interest in programming and development using primarily SQL Server and C# and the .NET platform.
• Demonstrated experience using AI tools to enhance development speed and quality. Ability to balance AI-generated assistance with strong personal judgment and deep technical understanding.
• Very good Excel skills as well as a good working knowledge of VBA programming in Excel.
• Sound knowledge of secure development principles.
• Knowledge of SQL environment using tracing tools.
• Experience with Python in the context of AI, APIs, or automation is a strong advantage.
• Web development experience using MVC and the following technologies: ASP.NET / .NET Core / Razor pages / Blazor.
• Knowledge and experience working with HTML, CSS and JavaScript/Typescript.
• Web Service development using .NET.
• Use of and RESTful APIs.
• Use of SOAP Web Services.
• Very logical with good understanding of basic Mathematics and Statistics.

Advantageous

• Experience with other SQL databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL.
• CLR development for SQL Server using C#.
• Experience with Node Red.
• Some Linux and Asterisk experience.

ATTRIBUTES:

• A strong sense of responsibility and ownership and a solid work ethic this is very important!
• Accurate and precise approach with a strong sense of attention to detail.
• The ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A willingness to learn about the existing business and systems enabling participation in the improvement and further development of these systems.
• A willingness to keep learning and staying updated on modern development environments, techniques and trends like the latest ASP.NET developments as well as ML.NET.
• Very good verbal and written communication skills with the ability to adapt to communicating with senior technical team, management and non-technical call centre agents.
• Very good problem-solving skills and an aptitude for applying critical reasoning and logic to solve challenging business problems.
• Organised and task driven with a need to complete tasks well.